Fabio Oliveira and the Rowan University Percussion Ensemble

Fabio Oliveira is a performer and educator with a wide variety of professional experiences as a percussionist, improviser, and conductor, working regularly in orchestral, chamber, solo, and artist accompaniment settings and navigating consistently between European classical and traditional Brazilian music. Transversing these traditions is an essential and distinctive feature of his work. As a scholar, Fabio concentrates on performance-related matters – dealing with music by Aperghis, Xenakis, and Tutschku, preparing performances with live electronics, text translation in Instrumental Musical Theatre, composer-performer collaboration, and instrument building. He's also theorized and published about traditional Brazilian Pagode Music. Dr. Oliveira has participated in recordings released on Tzadik, New World, Carrier, and Mode Records. Since 2019, Dr. Oliveira has been Director of Percussion Studies at Rowan University and a member of the PAS New Music / Research Day Committee.
“Pas de Cinq” (1965) – Mauricio Kagel

Session Description:

Argentinian-German composer Mauricio Kagel began composing his Journal de théâtre series in 1960—a collection of works exploring the theatrical potential of instrumental performance. In response to this year’s New Music/Research theme of “movement,” Fabio Oliveira and the Rowan University Percussion Ensemble present Pas de Cinq (1965), a rarely performed gem from the series. Combining choreography, sound, and theatrical gesture, Pas de Cinq challenges performers to traverse the stage along paths layered with varied surface materials. As each percussionist-actor navigates these textures, they generate sound through movement itself. The result is a surreal dance in which music emerges not only from instruments, but from motion, space, and embodied rhythm. This performance brings renewed attention to Kagel’s early explorations of absurdity, physicality, and the boundaries of musical expression.
  • New Music/Research

Date:

Thursday, November 13, 2025

Time:

9:00 AM

Location:

Room 120

Session Type:

New Music/Research Presents

Session Format:

Live